Shōjo
is a Japanese| word for "girl".The word girl in English has complex meanings, and care is needed in its use. See Francoeur, R.T., Martha Cornog, Timothy Perper, and Norman A. Scherzer 1995 The Complete Dictionary of Sexology, New Expanded Edition. New York: Continuum. The word is originally derived from a Chinese expression written with the same characters.Because of the difficulty of inputting wikipedia:macrons on many computers, "shôjo" and "shöjo" are also common and acceptable renderings, although "shōjo" is preferred.) The Chinese characters (少''' and 女') literally mean ''young/little and woman respectively.Yuen Ren Chao and Lien Sheng Yong. 1962. wikipedia:Concise Dictionary of Spoken Chinese. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (No ISBN). 少 is radical #42, page 64. 女 is radical #38, page 54, meaning woman or female. 女 can be used as either a noun or an adjective. In Japanese, these kanji refer specifically to a young woman approximately 7–18 years old.wikipedia:Shogakukan Daijisen Editorial Staff (1998), (Dictionary of the Japanese language), Revised Edition. Tokyo: wikipedia:Shogakukan. ISBN 978-4-09-501212-4. Etymology Like most kanji compounds, the term shōjo is borrowed from Classical Chinese character|s. The original term is written as "少女", which could be pronounced as shào nǚ in Mandarin| (pinyin romanization), so nyŏ in Korean| (McCune-Reischauer romanization), thiếu nữ in Vietnamese|, and shōjo in Japanese| (Hepburn romanization). The earliest surviving written record of the term 少女 is on the Book of the Later Han, published in China in the 5th century, in Chapter 86, The myth of Yao|, referring to young girls.Chinese Dictionary, Department of Education of Republic of China In the 7th century, the word was introduced into the Japanese language through the adoption of the Chinese-style Ritsuryō legal system, where it referred to females between the ages of 17 and 20.清水民子『女の子はどう育つか : 少女期その世界と発達』新日本出版社、1989年4月、ISBN 4-406-01723-2 Modern usage In legal settings, ''shōjo is a subset of shōnen (meaning "minor"|) and refers to any female juvenile who has not reached the age of 20.Public Prosecutors Office, Japan. In Japan, the word shōjo has many applications outside of the law. It refers to anything of, for, or about school-age girls.wikipedia:Shogakukan Dictionary Editorial Staff (2003), ("A Dictionary of Synonyms in Japanese"), New Edition. Tokyo: wikipedia:Shogakukan. ISBN 978-4-09-505522-0. Examples include shōjo manga, shōjo culture,山崎まどか『オードリーとフランソワーズ-乙女カルチャー入門』(晶文社、ISBN 4-7949-6518-4、2002年 shōjo novels, shōjo hobbies, and shōjo fashions, among others. In popular media Manga *''Binetsu Shōjo, a shōjo manga series by Kaho Miyasaka *Shōjo Sect, a Japanese adult manga series written and illustrated by manga author Ken Kurogane. Music *''Bishōjo Shinri, a song about the psychology of shōjo written by Tsunku, published in °C-ute|'s 2007 single Meguru Koi no Kisetsu. See also *Bishōjo *Josei *Girl *Lolicon *Shōjo manga, a Japanese manga demographic *Shoujocon, a former anime convention held annually from 2000–2003 *Shōnen, shōjo's male counterpart, includes legal definition of shōnen and shōjo *Women in Japan *Yamato Nadeshiko Footnotes References Category:Childhood Category:Japanese law Category:Japanese words and phrases Category:Juvenile law fr:Shōjo ar:مانغا شوجو ast:Shōjo manga ca:Shojo cs:Šódžo cy:Shōjo manga de:Shōjo eo:Porknabinaj mangao kaj animeo es:Shōjo fi:Shōjo gl:Shōjo he:שוג'ו hu:Sódzso id:Shoujo manga it:Shōjo ja:少女漫画 ko:소녀 만화 ms:Shōjo nl:Shojo pl:Shōjo-manga pt:Shōjo ro:Shōjo ru:Сёдзё simple:Shōjo sk:Šódžo sv:Shōjo th:โชโจะ tl:Manga na Shōjo tr:Shōjo zh:少女漫画